


what a lovely way to burn

by imaginarykat



Category: Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: AI Jack, Altered Mental States, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Consensual Possession, Drug Use, Jack Being an Asshole, M/M, Strangulation, ep 5 did not happen, rhys and ai jack rule hyperion together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-01
Updated: 2016-03-01
Packaged: 2018-05-24 05:26:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6142948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginarykat/pseuds/imaginarykat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys discovers The Chair has a lot of fun drug-injecting buttons. Jack discovers he needs a body, right now, immediately. Rhys’ will do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	what a lovely way to burn

**Author's Note:**

> [ORIGINALLY POSTED ON [TUMBLR](http://imaginaryanon.tumblr.com/post/133556978043/what-a-lovely-way-to-burn)]

Dicking around in the Helios subsystems is rapidly becoming Jack's favourite past time. There's just so much shit to do - intimidating stupid lowly employees, messing with elevators and doors and whatever else he can get his digital hands on, opening airlocks and watching people desperately try to hold on to something (there never is anything to hold on to, he makes sure of that) as they get sucked off into space. They make hilarious faces, too; Jack could spend days just laughing at them.

Except not, because it gets boring after a few times, and people get annoyingly careful, and it's just no fun doing the same thing over and over for hours on end.

He shifts his attention to another part of Helios, lets out a few murderous creatures in R&D just for shits and giggles. (Disables the warning system the scientists got set up, too. It's cute that they think themselves clever enough to stop him.) Still, it's not nearly as entertaining as he'd like it to be. Nothing is.

Well, Rhys is, sometimes, almost entertaining enough. But he's also asleep or off-station or working way too often and it's not like Jack's _bothered_ by it, no, but _he_ doesn't sleep or visit Pandora any more and spending all of his time on Helios, _as_ Helios is starting to get to him.

He finds a lone employee at some ass end of the station, orders a loader bot to kick the man in the face, and then decides that he's _bored_ as _dicks_ and he needs to _do_ something. Like... Rhys. Talk to Rhys, that is. He doesn't want to... do... well, _anyway_ , he activates the headset he has Rhys wear and speaks directly into his ear.

“Hey, Rhys. Rhysie. Kiddo. C'mon, hey, what are you doing? I need you for something.”

There's a moment of silence, and then Rhys says, "I'm... busy."

Jack hesitates for a second. Rhys’ voice is off, somehow, like he just woke up, or he's drunk. Which he probably isn’t, because Jack would know. Jack knows everything, he is Helios, and everything that happens on the station goes through him, one way or another. “You’re-- what? You can’t be busy, you’re the _president_ , you don’t have _shit_ to do. The only thing you could be doing is throwing people out an airlock, but that’s not being busy, and wouldn’t you let me watch anwyay? So let's try that again. What are you doing?”

“...things,” comes the slurred response, and Jack’s not having any of this.

“Where are ya? Your apart—”

“Your office.”

Rhys keeps calling the place Jack’s, even though technically it belongs to the CEO, the one who has a _body_ to occupy it, anyway. Jack can’t say he’s complaining, though. It feels right to be respected by people, the ones who matter at least. He can space the rest.

“What’cha doing there, hmm?” Jack mutters, mostly to himself, though his voice still echoes into Rhys' headset.

He turns his full attention to the office, switching on all the cameras and screens with a single spark of a thought. He needs to be there, and he is, he needs to see, and he does. Man, being a space station feels _great_.

Rhys is... right there, where else would he be; he definitely isn't working, though. His vest and jacket are carelessly thrown over the desk, and the man himself is sprawled on the chair, with one long leg swung over the armrest and his head thrown back.

So that's what passes as 'busy' now, huh? Just sitting in chairs? Looking... maybe a little too comfortable, actually. The expression on Rhys' face is lazy and blissful, seems almost suspiciously happy.

Jack stares, and then realization dawns on him as he switches off most of the screens and cameras. He turns off the lights too, just for good measure. That seems to grab at least a part of Rhys’ attention.

“Hey there,” he says, voice quiet but so, so smug.

“Look at me,” Jack demands, voice carefully neutral.

Rhys chuckles. “I don’t really... know? Where to look? I mean... aren’t you, like, everywhere all the time? Technically? So I’m looking at you-- always, really.”

“The desk monitor, pumpkin, c'mon.”

Rhys finally forces his eyes open and spares the screen a long, smug look. He looks ridiculously good like this, with his long neck exposed, half the buttons on his shirt undone, a cocky smile on his face. Backlit only by the crimson glow reflecting off Elpis, he looks like a _king_.

A king who has the audacity to stare Jack down as he bites his lower lip. Wow.

“Found out what the buttons do, did ya,” Jack says conversationally.

“Yup,” Rhys says, closing his eyes. He tries to pull himself upright, but that’s not happening, and he relaxes back into the chair with a long satisfied sigh. “Didn’t really expect... this.”

Jack feels like laughing. But he also feels like suddenly, being an entire friggin' space station doesn’t really cut it. Watching Rhys arched in the chair, his chair, makes him... hungry.

Wow, he _really_ misses having a body.

“Didn’t expect what?”

Rhys makes a pathetic attempt at raising his arms in some kind of vague gesture, but he barely manages half an uncoordinated wave and then gives up. “I don’t even... uhh... know? What’s happening right now? But god, it feels _great_.”

Damn right it feels great. Jack can't say he remembers the sensation, not exactly, but he knows what he had installed in the chair. The dopamine injectors are just the tip of the iceberg.

There’s a lot of fun drugs to be found, especially on Pandora. But why go to Pandora...

“Anyway, uhhh... hhh... wow.” Rhys opens his eyes just to close them again, and his smile spills even wider. He looks unsteady; the grip his mechanical arm has on the back of the chair is probably the only reason he’s not on the floor yet.

“You’re gonna fall down, idiot,” Jack observes. Calmly and casually. Completely casually. It’s not like his voice is getting lower and lower with each sentence he says. Nah.

“Am... not.”

“Wow, you are a _mess_ ,” Jack says quietly, and Rhys tilts his head and grins, only half-conscious but definitely not oblivious to how much this look fits him, mind all over the place, eyes unfocused but still trying to look at Jack. Oh, he could get used to seeing this. Though he’d really like to do more than just look right now.

“Well ‘s not like there was a... manual lying around,” Rhys manages. “Hey, don’t press all the buttons at once, mister CEO. They... do... things.”

Jack snorts. “You did not press all the buttons at once.”

“I did not press all the buttons at once,” Rhys agrees, and Jack's not sure whether he knows what he's saying or just repeating the words because that’s easier.

“Of course you didn’t, a lot more people would be dead if you did.”

“But... I did press the ones that looked fun?” Rhys shifts his shoulders a bit. Jack wagers that's supposed to be a shrug.

“The fun ones, huh.” So the kid’s having the time of his life, so high he can barely think straight, and Jack’s just stuck out there, just—just being a space station, watching. Great. Cool.

Yeah. Not happening.

He scans Helios, looking for... he has no idea what he's looking for. A goddamned _body_ would be nice, but it's not like there are working bodies just lying around, waiting for him to upload himself into. He'd have done so a long time ago if that was the case. There ain’t shit, here or anywhere close enough to give a fuck about, that would work for him right now, really.

There’s the override port, but that doesn’t even— except yes, yes it does.

The segmented arm unwinds itself from the back of the chair with a quiet hiss, and Jack doesn’t expect Rhys to react, but somehow he’s not completely lost in his own thoughts yet.

“Uhh, Jack?” he says, his voice calm but so full of something Jack can’t quite put his finger on. It’s driving him crazy.

Yeah. Fingers. And putting them in places. He _really_ wants to do that right now.

“Let me in, Rhysie,” he says, right in Rhys’ ear, low and dangerous.

Rhys' whole body shivers at that. He exhales loudly and mutters something, Jack can’t tell if those are actual words or not, but oh, he can _definitely_ work with this.

“Come on, cupcake. Just... just tilt your head a bit and let your pal Jack have some fun too. You know you want to.”

“Like the—old times,” Rhys says, breathing heavily. He huffs and angles his head so the port on his temple is exposed. If that’s not an invitation, then Jack doesn’t know what it is.

“Oh, Rhysie. We are gonna have so much more fun than that,” he purrs, and Rhys’ breath hitches, and if Jack’s not inside him in whichever fucking meaning of the word in less than five minutes, he’s gonna murder someone. “You still gotta do something for me.”

“Mmmmyeah, and I have to do all the work because...?”

Jack growls, and the sound thunders throughout Helios. The lights on the entire station flicker. (Countless Hyperion workers look up, puzzled, but it’s hardly the weirdest thing that ever happened to them. They get back to work trying not to think about it.)

“Rhysie, you're killing me here. Just... grab the thing and shove it back into your brain. Quickly now, don’t make me wait.”

Rhys is about as uncooperative as they come. His metal hand’s still holding on to the chair like his life depends on it, and the flesh one... the flesh one moves up Rhys' exposed chest, excruciatingly slow, fingers tracing the lines of one of his collarbones, and _honestly_ , is he doing this on purpose?

“Rhys. Rhysie. _Pumpkin_. What did I just say.”

Rhys just smiles absently and moves his hand to his throat, closing his fingers around it lightly.

Oh, so _that's_ how it is.

Jack's smile is all teeth and dark promises. Shame Rhys isn't looking.

"Why don't you leave that to me, babe," Jack whispers, and it finally snaps Rhys out of the high for a few seconds, long enough for him to grab the link and guide it into the port.

The connection clicks, and Jack is _flooded_.

The feeling is overpowering and intoxicating. As soon as Rhys' thoughts and sensations hit him, Jack barely manages to disconnect himself from Helios before he loses all control. Rhys wasn't exaggerating, he must've pressed _a lot_ of buttons for it to feel this good. Jack gives himself a moment to revel in it. He's in a body again, living and breathing, flesh and blood, not a goddamned space station. Doesn't matter the body isn't his; this makes it just that much more interesting.

He and Rhys breathe in and out in long gasps, trying to find where one ends and the other begins, but it's all too much, they're floating, and Jack lets his delighted laugh rumble through Rhys' head and feels Rhys grin.

"You did good, cupcake, I'm so proud," he coos, and feels the praise washing over Rhys, sending waves of heavy warmth all though his body. "Oh, I've _missed_ this."

Rhys' mind is all jumbled, he's thinking of everything and nothing at once, one sensation chasing another so quickly they become a blur, and Jack doesn't know whether this is Rhys or the drugs or both, but-- god. He could get lost in it all, enjoying Rhys enjoying himself.

He _could_ just sit back and watch. But he knows there won't be other occasions to actually have hands and a body to command, he needs to seize the opportunity while he can.

He helps Rhys catch his balance as he takes control over the metal arm completely (he doesn't even have to fight Rhys for it, Rhys is so pliant, so eager, he just gives and gives without a second thought).

"Jack," Rhys says, grinning. He looks at his-not-his hand through half-lidded eyes, watches, waits. Gives the arm up, gives himself up. All his desires seep through the mess in his head and Jack likes so many of those, he'll remember it, he'll definitely remember.

He brings the hand up to Rhys' throat, almost gentle, almost loving, and doesn't even bother with a warning before he squeezes, hard, not hard enough to kill, but hard enough to stop Rhys from breathing for just a moment. Rhys arches back, instinctively trying to fight the grasp, but Jack can _see_ his thoughts now, and he can _see_ what Rhys' mind is doing, and wow, he'll have to look into getting himself a proper body after all. The thought makes him tighten his grasp, and Rhys' flesh hand goes straight for the bulge in his pants.

(The fact that he even manages to find his own belt buckle is stupidly impressive, considering that he's being choked, _lovingly_ , and that he's so high he probably doesn't even know where he is.)

Jack allows him to catch a breath, runs a hand down his chest, undoes the buttons on his shirt and mercifully deals with the belt and fly, too, since it seems to be just too complicated a task for Rhys right now, not that Jack can blame him. He palms Rhys through his underwear and Rhys whimpers.

"Feelin’ good there, Rhysie?" Jack murmurs, a question and a promise. He doesn't need an answer, the images Rhys' mind is throwing at him are more than enough. He can barely keep himself together and he knows Rhys is experiencing everything just as intensely, if not more.

The metal hand goes back to Rhys' throat and Jack honestly can't tell which one of them is enjoying it more. What he sees in Rhys' mind adds fuel to the fire, and his arousal is Rhys' arousal too, and for all the time he'd spent stuck in Rhys' head he didn't _know_ it was possible to share like this; share a body, share a mind, share it all with such sharp, white-hot intensity.

Rhys is a beautiful mess, panting and blushing, just conscious enough to work himself in slow strokes with Jack's whispers in his ear and Jack's hand at his throat, and it's overwhelming, it's too much but not enough, and Jack can feel his own smile at Rhys' lips, can feel the fingers at his throat, he doesn't know what belongs to who and he doesn't care.

Rhys comes with Jack's name on his lips, rides the high until the both of them are seeing stars. He slumps down in the chair afterwards, exhausted. He's practically radiating self-satisfaction but his mind is everywhere, and it doesn't seem that he's gonna be going anywhere any time soon.

Jack doesn't want to ruin the moment for once. He settles comfortably in the back of Rhys' mind, decides to enjoy himself just a bit more before making a tactical retreat back into Helios.

Rhys is all but unconscious and Jack smiles to himself; sure, Rhys is gonna remember how good it all felt. The thing is, he doesn't need to remember that it _actually happened_.

* * *

Jack's not there when Rhys wakes up, he doesn't care to be there, merciful enough to give Rhys some time to get himself together. He sits back with a smug smile on his face, idly watches people going about their jobs in whichever department catches his attention, doesn't even kill anyone.

He allows Rhys a day before he projects his face on all the monitors in the office again. Rhys is back in the chair, desperately trying to be the picture of a responsible CEO. It takes all of Jack's restraint not to burst out laughing on the spot. He settles for a snort as his voice rumbles through the room.

"So what have ya been doing, Rhysie?"

Rhys yelps, and then laughs nervously. "I, uhh..."

"I'm just messin’ with ya. I know what you've been doing. You drugged yourself into oblivion, that's what."

Rkys looks vaguely uncomfortable, his eyes darting around the office, and it's the funniest thing Jack's seen in his life. "Um. Okay, wow. I really don't want to have this conversation, ever, but... do you maybe know... what happened?"

Jack grins. "Nothing. Nothing happened. You just drooled a bit. It was embarrassing, frankly."

Rhys looks at him, and then at his metal arm, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Hah, that's funny, because you know, I kinda feel like--"

"You were high, babe," Jack says in his most innocent and helpful voice. (God, he should get an award for being this good at lying.) "Like, the 'completely incoherent' kind of high. You seemed pretty happy, though; I wish I knew what the hell you were seeing, because man, you sure seemed to enjoy it a lot."

Rhys blushes, actually _blushes_ , and then runs a hand through his hair. "Ooookay, yeah. So, incredibly real hallucinations. Wow. Gotta... gotta keep that. In mind. In the deepest, darkest corner of mind, wow."

Jack's smirk just gets bigger. So Rhys does remember. _Good._

He hopes the memory is enough to get Rhys to try it again.

**Author's Note:**

> oh my god what are warnings what are ratings am i doing this right at all


End file.
